Hashtag Team: How you can get 4,400 B2B customers in 30 days

Welcome back to B2B News Network’s weekly Hashtag Team report, where we serve up a summary of what’s hot in the B2B Twitterverse.

Using the leading social analysis tool Nexalogy, we sift and sort through the week’s trending tweets to bring you the best of the B2B buzz.

In this week’s edition, we’ll show you how one company signed up 4,400 new B2B customers in just 30 days, you’ll learn how to avoid rookie mistakes when hunting for B2B sales leads, and get insights into the most influential B2B marketing activities. We’re also sharing an informative infographic on B2B venture capital growth in India, a podcast on social selling, and more. Enjoy!

B2B Marketing

How did Yotpo sign up 4,400 B2B customers in just 30 days? Yotpo inbound marketing manager Justin Butlion was able to achieve this remarkable feat with zero ad dollars spent by focusing on the people behind the online store and treating them, first and foremost, as human beings who consume content through blogs, hang out on social networks and work hard to build their online businesses. A must-read report for any B2B sales execs.

Douglas Burdett has this advice for B2B sales professionals hunting for leads—avoid the “19-year-old dude” move. Fully 95 percent of qualified prospects on your website are primarily interested in research and aren’t yet ready to speak with a sales rep. But Burdett says that many companies don’t have the proper patience required to nurture leads and act like “a horny, clueless 19-year-old dude who is looking for some serious romantic action on a first date.”

Offering content to prospects reflect their buying journey is becoming more important than ever due to changes in the way customers buy. They probably won’t contact you until they are close to making a decision, and if you don’t offer them information that helps them through their buying journey, “you’ll rarely get to first base with them,” says Burdett.

Harvard Business School senior lecturer Frank Cespedes and Gartner research vice president Tiffani Bova team up in this Harvard Business Review piece to offer insights into the most influential B2B marketing activities. Unsurprisingly, business buyers on average say that direct interactions with providers influence their purchasing decisions more than anything else. References and events, in both the real and virtual worlds, came next, followed by white papers and sales presentations. Press publications, advertising and social media were named as the least influential B2B marketing activities. Anyone else surprised social media rated so low?

Malavika Velayanikal analyzes an infographic by Kathrinna Rakhmavika of Tech in Asia revealing the emergence of B2B as one of the hottest sectors for venture capital in India this year.

Indian SaaS startups alone closed 83 deals worth some $435 million in the first nine months of 2015, including Freshdesk ($50 million) and Capillary Technologies ($45 million). The southern city of Chennai has emerged as a SaaS hub. E-commerce enablers also did very well, with the enterprise tech sector raising $383 million in funding.

Tim Hughes, director of commercial industries business development at Oracle UK, lists the five pillars of social selling in this important podcast for B2B professionals seeking better understanding of the power of social selling. You’ll discover how much of a sales cycle is complete before B2B buyers engage with sales reps, as well as examine the social selling journey as classic change management.

You will also learn about the power of influencer marketing and get tips on improving your social listening skills and technology.

If you missed last week’s edition of Hashtag Team written by Sarah Dawley, head here to check it out. As always, if you have any B2B content we think we should share next week, let us know below or via @b2bnewsnetwork.